Joe Walding

Joseph Albert Walding (18 June 1926 – 5 June 1985) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He represented the Palmerston North electorate for several terms. After his retirement from Parliament, he became High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, but died within months of taking the post.

Biography Early life Walding was born in Christchurch, in 1926. He went to school in that city. When he was 15, he joined the New Zealand Merchant Navy and later the British Merchant Navy. The impressions that he gained through the war shaped his outlook on life. He became a carpenter after the war, working in the Wellington area. In 1973 he made the first official visit by a New Zealand government minister to China since the 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution and famously rode a bicycle down the Great Wall of China. In 1978 he in turn defeated Lithgow to regain the Palmerston North seat and return the parliament. Labour was still in opposition and he was appointed Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry and later Shadow Minister of Overseas Trade. In 1979 he stood again for the Labour Party presidency but was defeated by Jim Anderton 586 votes to 527. Six months prior to the , he announced his retirement from Parliament citing ill-health.

He later became a key advisor to David Lange while he was leader of the opposition and was heavily involved in Labour's successful election campaign. During the campaign he accompanied Lange on his hectic schedule of public hustings as an organiser and confidante earning him the title "Mr Lange's minder". She died in Havelock North on 8 June 2017.